'I lost £500 and the puppy of my dreams'

KATE Margolis was counting down the days until she could bring her new golden retriever puppy home.

- LUISA METCALFE

She'd seen photos of the litter and knew that one of the male puppies was hers.

Shed handed over a deposit and stocked up on everything she would need to provide a dog with a happy, comfortable home.

But then the messages from the breeder stopped coming.

He no longer replied to her emails and within a day, Kate, 39, from Tetbury, Gloucestershire, realised that she had been conned, not only out of hundreds of pounds but out of her dream of taking home a much longed-for puppy.

"My cat Echo had passed away - so my other half and I decided that we'd like to get a dog.

DEPOSIT

"It was 2019 and I started looking for a golden retriever. I found a website which was well put together - it had great testimonials and there were beautiful photos of the animals.

"I got lulled into a false sense of security and contacted this guy asking if he had any golden retriever litters coming up," she says.

"He came back to me and said they had a litter due in December and told me to send him a £500 deposit and he'd keep me posted on the mother and puppies. He was quite helpful.

"Once a week I was being sent cute mobile phone photos of puppies."

Kate and her partner were so committed to the thought of their new puppy that they had chosen their top three names for him."